Place · Divya Desam Vishnu temple · India
Srinivasa with Nachiyar, Kumbakonam
Also known as Kumbakonam, Nachiyar Koil, Srinivasa with Nachiyar
The Oppiliappan temple at Thiruvinnagar near Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu — one of the 108 Divya Desam Vaishnava shrines sung by the Alvar poets. The deity is Vishnu as Oppiliappan (literally 'the one without parallel') with his consort Bhumi Devi, in a composite form that merges the Nachiyar (goddess) with the main deity. The temple is famous for its Kal Garuda — a 10th-century silver icon of Vishnu's mount Garuda that is said to grow progressively heavier each time it is carried by pilgrims during the annual Garuda Sevai procession (requiring four, then eight, then sixteen bearers over the course of a single procession as devotees touch it). The phenomenon is one of the famous miraculous iconographic traditions of South Indian temples. The temple's foundation is 7-8th century Pallava; the current structure is 10-century Chola.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 10.900, 79.467
Connections (2)
- Companion in the same setShrīrangam
Nāchiyār Koil near Kumbakonam is the one Divya Desam where the goddess takes ritual precedence over the god and the deity is approached through her — the reverse of Srirangam's order, thirty kilometres away. Its Kal Garuda is said to grow heavier as it is carried out, needing dozens of bearers by the outer street.
- Site adjacencyKumbeshwarar, Kumbakonam
Srinivasa with Nachiyar and Kumbeshwarar are both great temples of Kumbakonam town, standing a few streets apart along the Mahamaham tank and the Kaveri. They are neighbouring landmarks of the same Chola temple city rather than one inside the other.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Kumbakonam”. The Nālāyira Divya Prabandham and the standard Divya Desam concordances.
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